Management
Hovione is an independent family owned international group of companies.
The Company was founded in 1959 by Ivan and Diane Villax, and remains an independent family concern. The Board is made up of Villax family members and a majority of independent non-executive Directors, it is led by an independent non-executive Chairman.
The Chief Executive Officer is responsible for the management of the business and is assisted by the Executive Committee.
The Executive Committee manages Hovione’s activities and each member is responsible for a specific area of the business.
Board of Directors

Diane Villax
Founder-ChairmanDiane is a Non-Executive Board Member of Hovione.

Elie Vannier
Chairman of the BoardMaster of Law and DEA in Political Science from Université Paris-Sorbonne
Elie Vannier serves/has served on several boards in several countries including France, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Belgium, UK and the US. Elie Vannier has had a diversified career of over 40 years in the Media, Industry, Investment banking, and Retail. He is visiting professor at Peking University in China and has taught at Sciences Po in Paris and the Ecole Supérieure de Guerre et d’Etat-Major in France.
Elie is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hovione.

Guy Villax
Non-Executive Board MemberDegree in Accounting and Financial Management
Guy Villax was Hovione's Chief Executive from 1997 to 2022, having previously worked at Price Waterhouse in London and Hovione in Asia.
Guy holds leadership positions at industry associations and in Portuguese state organizations: Rx-360, Health Cluster Portugal, Portugal’s Business Roundtable; and the ANI (Portugal’s National Innovation Agency) and the CNCTI (National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation).

Charles L. Cooney
Non-Executive Board MemberB.Sc. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and S.M. and Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering from MIT
Charles Cooney started as a Professor at MIT in 1982 and was the Founding Faculty Director of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation. His research and teaching interests span a range of topics in Biochemical Engineering, Pharmaceutical Manufacturing, and Technological Innovation.
Charles Cooney sits on the Boards of multiple Biotech and Pharma companies and is Non-Executive Board Member of Hovione.

Sofia Villax
Non-Executive Board MemberDegree in Pharmacology
Sofia worked at Hovione in various positions: in Macau in Quality Assurance, and then in Portugal in Product Development, Marketing, Communications and Innovation. She is a member of the General Council of the Universidade de Aveiro.
Sofia and a Non-Executive Board Member of Hovione.

Michel Pettigrew
Non-Executive Board MemberB.COM from McGill University, Montreal and M.B.A. from York University, Toronto
Past President of the Ferring Group of Companies, Michel Pettigrew has more than 43 years of pharmaceutical industry experience. Before Ferring, Michel Pettigrew held several executive-level positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb. During this time, he spent eight years in Asia in different positions including GM of Indonesia and GM of Malaysia and Singapore.
Michel is Non-Executive Board Member of Hovione.

David LaPré
Non-Executive Board MemberBSc Engineering and Life Sciences from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. M.B.A. from New York University
Over 20 years, David LaPré held senior executive roles at Roche/ Genentech, in the United States and Switzerland.
David is a Non-Executive Board Member of Hovione.
Committees of the |
Elie Vannier |
Diane Villax |
Michel Pettigrew |
David LaPré |
Charles Cooney |
Sofia Villax |
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AFRC – Audit and Financial risk Committee |
o |
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x |
x |
x |
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GRC - Governance and Remuneration Committee |
x |
o |
x |
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x | |
DTO - Development and Technical Operations Committee |
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x |
o |
x |
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Science Committee **committee under constitution** |
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o |
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o = Committee Chair |
Executive Committee

Jean-Luc Herbeaux
CEODegree in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science and PhD in Mechanical Engineering
Jean-Luc Herbeaux started his professional career as Assistant then Associate Professor at the Kanazawa Institute of Technology in Japan.
From 2000 to 2020, Jean-Luc Herbeaux held multiple high-level leadership positions at Evonik, one of the world’s leading specialty chemicals companies, and before joining Hovione, was at the helm of Health Care Business Line of Evonik.
Jean-Luc Herbeaux joined Hovione as Chief Operations Officer in 2020.

Luis Gomes
SVP OperationsDegree in Chemical Engineering

António Almeida
CFODegree in Business Administration

David Basile
VP Technical Operations – AmericasDegree in Mechanical Engineering, Master of Science Degree in Systems Engineering

Filipe Gaspar
Chief Technology OfficerDegree in Chemical Engineering and PhD in Chemical Engineering

Tiago Ferreira de Matos
General CounselDegree in Law. LLM in International Law and Business Administration

Ilda Ventura
VP Human ResourcesDegree in Human Resources Management and Occupational Psychology